Well this was our last trip in the car with trusty "Madam" (our satnav) navigating. She steered us safely onto the autoroute and after a few hours speed driving we were in Perpignan. A few hassles to find a petrol station, after a coffee in the very pleasant part of town, and we dropped off the car at the Europecar at the station.
An hour to go until the train so we got a kebab for lunch - heaps of kabab shops here, then jumped on the train for the border.
Already the terrain was getting drier and rockier, but as we approached the border with Spain it got more so. We had a few tantalising glimpses of the mediterranean as we sped past, then we changed trains at Port Bou on the Spanish side of the border.
Not only the climate had changed. We felt we were in Spain - everything was a bit dirtier, a bit more laid back, but also a bit more aggro. People were drinking beer and sangria in the station waiting for the train - and no one was too clear on where the train was going to leave from.
The train made many stops on its way to Barcelona, and it was full and hot. We finally got into barcelona about 7.00pm and found our way to the hotel on the metro without problems. The hotel Hogar was very conveniently located, but we got a dreadful room - small and musty, with only a small window into a covered central airwell - which was dank and dark. Not even a fan to move the air.
Feeling a bit down in the dumps and overwhelmed by the crowds and bustle of barcelona, we walked up and down the Ramblas, had a very ordinary meal of tapas and paella on the tourist strip (we should have known better)
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